OSU solar research center to open in May

A new solar energy research center at Oregon State University plans to open in May after acquiring about $2.7 million in new funds.

OSU secured the new funding with help from the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center, which provided an initial investment of $232,000, according to an OSU press release. The new center will be dubbed the Oregon Process Innovation Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing.

“We’re reaching the limits of what can be done through incremental improvements in traditional, silicon-based solar cell technology,” said Greg Herman, an associate professor of chemical engineering at OSU and associate director of the center. “We’re aiming for a revolution in solar cell processing and manufacturing that might drop costs by as much as 90 percent while being more environmentally sensitive.”

The new center will help solar energy companies improve existing technologies and also move toward next-generation solar cell concepts. It will provide a shared laboratory and equipment, serve as a resource to solve industry manufacturing problems, and be an educational training ground for solar energy engineers and scientists of the future.